But more than half would welcome more support, says virginmoneygiving.com
More than half of Scottish charities are planning to increase their use of online fundraising, new research* from virginmoneygiving.com, the not-for-profit online giving site shows.
But they would welcome more advice and training in order to maximise online fundraising, the research among 389 charities across the country shows. Nearly six out of 10 (56%) charities say there is not enough external support and advice on online fundraising.
The study shows widespread use of digital fundraising – just 8% of the charities surveyed said they did not use any form of digital fundraising and only 11% say online fundraising is not important.
Around 56% of charities say they plan to increase their use of fundraising websites and to encourage supporters to use sites – another 33% say they already use online fundraising extensively.
Analysis shows online fundraising only generates around 3% of total giving** which in 2010 was around £10.6 billion – £700 million down on pre-recession levels.
Jo Barnett, executive director at Virgin Money Giving said: “The online giving market is growing rapidly and charities and fundraisers benefit from using online giving services as they are more efficient and improve Gift Aid uptake.
“However charities need support and advice on maximising the amounts raised and on the techniques to use. Virgin Money Giving has run workshops across Scotland and has more planned as part of its commitment to help charities.”
Virginmoneygiving.com’s research shows the most popular method of online fundraising is Facebook used by 41% of charities, followed by online donation services which are used by 37%.
Around a third (33%) of charities currently use online fundraising pages while 32% use Twitter and 7.5% use text/SMS.
Through Virgin Money Giving, for every £10 donated £12.15 will make its way to the good cause, assuming donors are eligible to sign up to give Gift Aid. Since its launch in October 2009 virginmoneygiving.com has raised close to £75 million.
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Notes to Editors
*VirginMoneyGiving.com research among 389 charities in September 2011.
**UK Giving 2010.
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About Virgin Money Giving:
- Virgin Money Giving is the not-for-profit online fundraising arm of Virgin Money and was established in 2009. Virgin Money uses its infrastructure and expertise as a financial services business to ensure that Virgin Money Giving is efficient, secure and offers a high quality service to all fundraisers, charities and those wanting to donate to charity online.
- Virginmoneygiving.com, which is backed by hundreds of major charities, officially opened to all fundraisers for all charity events on 14 October 2009 and estimates it will deliver an extra £5 million on top of every £100 million raised for charities. This is part of its commitment to achieve the best deal for charities.
- Virginmoneygiving.com is free for fundraisers, charges a flat registration fee of £100 + VAT for charities and a 2% fee on all donations before Gift Aid, which means for every £10 raised charities receive £12.15.
- Virgin Money Giving charges charities the minimum fees needed to cover the running costs of the site. Any money left over after covering operating costs will go towards reducing fees further or improving services for fundraisers and charities.
- Fundraisers can personalise their fundraising pages, send out email alerts and manage their fundraising events. They can include their own content, photos and links to their page as well as customise messages for their supporters. Fundraisers can also link their page to social networking sites.
- Virgin Money Giving also contains fundraising ideas and tips, offering help and advice to fundraisers on how to raise more for charity.
- Virginmoneygiving.com is the official sponsorship website of the Virgin London Marathon, Royal Parks Half Marathon, Virgin Active London Triathlon and Nike Run to the Beat.
We’ve seen a record breaking number of fundraisers create their Virgin London Marathon page, here on Virgin Money Giving. So we’ve had a rummage around the office and found some ‘runners up’ prizes.
